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Older Daddies

News about the death of the one time “oldest mother” at age 69, leaving behind her 31-month old twin boys, added sparks to the ongoing debate about age and parenthood. The question is basically “How old is too old to have a baby?” The answer has always been left for the biological clock to decide, a clock which seems to tick faster for women than for men. The latest developments in assisted reproduction and in vitro fertilization, however, enabled women to slow down their clock and put off childbearing as late as possible.

One major objection to advanced maternal age is the risk of leaving children motherless at a very young age, as now confirmed by the 69-year old mom’s death.

However, many people think it’s unfair that the age-parenthood question is always argued against women but seldom in men. What about the risk of leaving children fatherless and unprovided for? There are quite a number of men of “advanced paternal age” out there.

Take for instance Momlogic’s list of old celebrity daddies with little kiddies:

Woody Allen, 73
Manzie Tio Allen, 8

David Letterman, 61
Harry Joseph Letterman, 5

Donald Trump, 62
Barron William Trump, 2

Larry King, 75
Cannon Edward King, 8

Mick Jagger, 65
Lucas Jagger, 9

Paul McCartney, 66
Beatrice Milly McCartney, 5

Rod Stewart, 63
Alastair Wallace, 3

Sylvester Stallone, 62
Scarlet Rose Stallone, 6

I add here my own list of older fathers from Hollywood.

Michael Douglas, 64, has 3 kids, the two youngest with wife Catherine Zeta Jones. Their youngest is a girl Carys Zeta, age 6.

Mel Gibson, 53, is not really the oldest but he is one of the most prolific. He has 7 children with ex-wife Robyn and his current girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva is expecting his 8th child in the fall.

Clint Eastwood supposedly fathered at least 7 children. The youngest is Morgan Eastwood, born in 1996 when her dad was 66. Her mom is Dina Ruiz, 35 years younger than Eastwood.

Sir Michael John Gambon or rather, Professor Dumbledore. The stage and film Irish actor playing the part in the Harry Potter films. The 68-year old has three boys ranging from 44 to 2 weeks old.

Hugh Hefner was 65 when his now 18-year old son Cooper was born in 1991. The 83-year old Playboy publisher has 4 children.

Anthony Quinn. The oldest (if you exclude J. Howard Marshall) and the most prolific who supposedly fathered 10 children with 4 women. He was 81 years old when his youngest was born in 1996.

Although these old men are less likely to leave their little kids unprovided for, kids, too, need their dads in the early years of their life.

Can you add somebody to the list? Do you think it’s fair that there’s no age limit to fatherhood?

It is hard to say, I know people that had children at young ages and still died before their child’s third birthday. And many people these days live much longer than 69. It is a terrible situation to be in but it can happen at any age, men or women.

I think it’s irresponsible to have children so late in life. These children will live most of their adult life without parents to guide them, and these parents will never get to live to see their grandchildren grow up.